“1 bank robbery suspect killed, 2 others arrested, FBI says”

Chicago Tribune on May 11, 2013 released the following:

“FBI agents shot one bank robbery suspect dead and arrested two others at a bank in the small town of Richmond on Friday, investigators said.

Federal investigators had been tailing the three men on I-90 and to the bank because they were suspected of previous bank robberies and were thought to be planning another, a source close to the investigation said.

FBI spokeswoman Joan Hyde said the men “had been the subject of an investigation,” but declined to elaborate.

The shooting occurred at about 11:30 a.m. in the parking lot of Associated Bank at 10910 N. Main St. in Richmond, on Route 12 just west of the Chain O’ Lakes near Wisconsin. Hyde did not know what precipitated the shooting, but said the suspects never entered the bank.

Photos from the scene showed the car had driven off the pavement of the parking lot and appeared to hit a pole and slightly smashed its front end. No bystanders or investigators were injured, Hyde said.

The scene remained blocked off Friday evening, and Route 12 was closed in the area. An FBI evidence response team was on the scene and investigators questioned witnesses.

Though the investigation was out of the FBI’s Chicago office, the two suspects were taken to Winnebago County Jail in Rockford, where the agency has a satellite office, Hyde said

Associated Bank released the following statement: “Our customers and colleagues at our Richmond branch are safe and secure. We are fully cooperating with local law enforcement to help resolve the situation.”

A woman who works in the business next door said workers were terrified by the shooting.

Geri Rubel, an accountant at a firm in an adjoining part of the bank building, said she heard two bursts of rapid, automatic gunfire outside, one short and one long. She and her co-workers looked out the front window of her office and saw men with guns running through the parking lot toward the bank.

“That scared the (expletive) out of us,” she said. “We locked the door, went to a corner of the room and cried because we didn’t know what was going on. I thought of my kids, and called the high school (to alert them).”

They peeked out the window occasionally, until she said a police officer came to tell them that investigators had been staking out the bank, believing a robbery was planned. The FBI would not comment on whether a robbery had been thwarted.

Rubel said the dead man was in the parking lot, and another man was taken away in handcuffs in a black SUV. The men she saw with the guns turned out to be law enforcement agents.

“This kind of thing doesn’t happen ever here,” Rubel said. “I hear about it in the city (of Chicago). This is a small town. It’s not something you expect to see here.”

The police response was so quick that it seemed obvious they expected the robbery, she said. “To have all of them within 30 seconds, I’m thinking they must have known something,” Rubel said.

McHenry County Undersheriff Andrew Zinke said his office was called to help the FBI and Richmond and Spring Grove police. “They had been involved in an incident out in front of the bank where a shooting had taken place,” he said.

“There is no threat or danger to the Richmond community at this point,” Zinke said.”

Douglas McNabb and other members of the U.S. law firm practice and write and/or report extensively on matters involving Federal Criminal Defense, INTERPOL Red Notice Removal, International Extradition Defense, OFAC SDN Sanctions Removal, International Criminal Court Defense, and US Seizure of Non-Resident, Foreign-Owned Assets. Because we have experience dealing with INTERPOL, our firm understands the inter-relationship that INTERPOL’s “Red Notice” brings to this equation.

The author of this blog is Douglas C. McNabb. Please feel free to contact him directly at mcnabb@mcnabbassociates.com or at one of the offices listed above.